Vegas June 2023 (WSOP)

Day 5 - WSOP 8-Game Mix

Last Updated: 2023-06-12 12:00:43

In the past 8-Game Mix has pretty much been a lock for me having at least a very late Day 1 run and sometimes into Day 2.

Not this time around...

Usual morning of Starbucks and pool, Joann caught up on financial stuff, I caught up on newspapers (yes, I still read them online), lunch at NYNY food court. Monster sandwich for Joann from Greenberg's, pizza and beer for me on the assumption that by the time I got to the WSOP the beer would be worn off.

And it was, but I forgot the other issue with beer which is that it makes me sleepy when it wears off and I was yawning by 4pm. But that didn't really have anything to do with what happened...

Get to the buyin cage right around 3pm and walk straight to a cashier. No line whatsoever. Find the late registration desk, get chips and a seat assignement.

I won the first hand I played! 2-7 Triple Draw, call a raise with 247T2. Draw two and get a 4-5 so I improve, call a bet, pitch the 4 and draw a 6! I get a bet in at the end, didn't get to see his hand but 4th nuts is good!

But then I catch an 8 a couple hands later to make 8-6-4-3-2 and lose to a wheel (7-5-4-3-2, the nuts) and then the last hand of 2-7 I lose with 8-7-5-4-2 to 8-7-5-3-2. Can't make it up.

Then I get moved already. In order to prevent collusion and make sure friends can't buy in late and get at the same new table, to make a new table they pick random existing tables, grab the big blinds to make a new table and then backfill those random places with new players so that all new players are randomly placed.

Not much going well for me, giving up blinds and antes when a rough hand comes up. Playing Omaha 8/b 3-handed and I play a hand from the big blind I probably would have pitched from any other position because it was middle and big cards including 6-7 of hearts.

Flop came A-5-8 with two diamonds, so I have an open ended straight draw and a lousy low draw. There is a bet and a call and I call. Normally one really doesn't like to play for half, but it's half of a 3-handed pot and if my draw comes in I'm almost certainly getting all of my half.

3 on the turn probably counterfeits at least one of the lows, still a bet and we call.

River brings a four! Straight!

I'm actually first to act and lead out, but I get raised. We all call ... I missed the flush on the board. I thought it was two hearts and two diamonds, there were three diamonds on the board.

Dumbass.

But, that was only an extra 1000 because I led out, it didn't cost me a lot. I can't fold the straight for one bet and have to hope other lows were counterfeited ... but the other two in the hand chopped it up one with the flush and the other with the nut low.

Down to 14k from my 25k starting stack. It didn't get any better...

Another 8/b hand where I have A-3 and a 2 comes on the flop as well as another low card 3-handed again so I have a nut low and backdoor straight/flush possibilities ... the turn is a face card that gave me the flush draw, but then the board paired and I miss everything.

Under 12k.

Blinds and antes get me to where I have to bust up my first 5k chip just so I can ante myself under 10k. Breaking up the first of your two 5k chips is never a sign things are going well...

Finally win a couple of small pots in PLO. I catch a second nut flush in one and a full house in the other on the turn in both cases ... but don't get paid on the river on either one of them.

Losing big pots and winning small pots is a really bad way to have success in a poker tournament...

Playing limit hold'em I look down at A-J of hearts and raise out, someone reraises and I call. The reraise doesn't mean a lot, in limit hold'em it's a proper strategy to reraise a mediocre hand if you intend to play it just to limit the field. So ... it's possible he has aces or kings but much more likely he's just trying to get it to heads-up against me with any playable hand.

Flop comes 2-5-2 with one heart. Of course I'm calling one small bet getting 7.5-1.

Turn is the 3h. Now I have a gutshot straight draw, nut flush draw and two overcards. He bets, I call.

River is a four! Straight!

He bets, I call assuming we're chopping ... and he flips over pocket 6s.

Are you fucking kidding me...sigh...

I'm scratching the felt now so I'm looking for anything reasonable to get in with. And it comes!

Playing stud 8/b I get dealt 2-4-5. Guy raises out, I reraise, he just calls.

Well long story, short when he helps me put the last of my chips in it's 5th street and the hands look like this:

I have 2-4-5-5-6, I don't think I had a backdoor flush tho.

He has 9-6-6-6-4 for trip 6s.

He picks up a face card and I pick up a 3rd 5 on 6th street, so I too now have three of a kind but not as good as his.

Last card face down, he flips over a 7 and hasn't improved.

Literally any card in the deck 8 or lower gives at least half the pot, most of them the whole pot. Any 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 is a scoop, any A, 7 or 8 gives me a low and a chop.

I squeeze a queen. Out. Lasted all of two hours.

Brutal.

Back to the room, definitely a night to just stew a little and try and polish off some of those near-empty whisky bottles we brought with us. Ran down for some takeout for dinner in between sips (buffalo chicken sandwich for me, Joann just had a fruit cup because she was still full from that sandwich) and WSOP streaming was the rest of our night.

The notional plan for Monday is a 6pm PLO8 tournament at MGM Grand. The only problem is that Tuesday is 100% 8-game mix at Aria at 11am. That's a short turnaround.

I may in the end decide to skip 8/b because of the timing, but it's always hard for me to ever skip a reasonable buy-in 8/b tournament.

That said, if I do play in both and 8/b goes well I might not have time to BLOG Tuesday morning before 8-game so we'll see.